ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Despite a nearly three-hour delayed start, the No. 2 seed Navy women's tennis team (22-6) came out strong and claimed a 4-0 quarterfinal victory over seventh-seeded Bucknell (10-13) Friday evening at the Tose Family Tennis Center, closing out a long first day of action at the 2024 Patriot League Tournament and earning a semifinal showdown with longtime rival and No. 3 seed Army.
 
Led by juniors Emily Tannenbaum and Kate Lee both getting it done in doubles and singles play, the Midshipmen grabbed the doubles point in short order before first-set wins in all six singles matches helped pave the way to the next round of the league's championship.
 
After Friday's first two matches were completed outdoors at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium, as top-seeded Boston University and No. 5 Lehigh played their way into the semifinal round against each other, late-developing weather forced Army's match with Colgate and the Navy-Bucknell contest to shift indoors to Tose for the rest of the day, with the Mids' scheduled 3:15 p.m. match starting at 6 p.m.
 
Once the Mids finally got going, Tannenbaum and freshman Olivia Fermo worked quick to get a 6-0 win over Caroline Marcus and Madison Sebulsky in the No. 2 doubles spot, while the No. 3 junior pairing of Lee and Parvathi Shanker followed right after with their own 6-0 victory against Anna Lajos and Mirra Manolov to clinch the doubles point. Left abandoned, sophomore Sia Chaudry and senior Samantha Johns were trailing Whitney King and Abigail Platt in the top slot.
 
In singles play, Johns took care of business with her 6-1, 6-0 win over Lajos on the second court, while Lee defeated Tyne Miller at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 6-2, to put Navy one point away from sealing a semifinal berth. The clincher went to Tannenbaum, as the junior battled through a tough second set to claim the No. 1 singles match, 6-1, 6-3, over King.
 
With the remaining three matches abandoned, Chaudry was up 6-2, 5-3 against Platt at No. 2, while freshman Makaila Cheng led No. 5 player Tori Allen, 6-2, 5-4, and Shanker had a 6-3, 5-1 edge on Manolov at the No. 6 position.
 
Match Notes
• Navy is now 18-2 over Bucknell in the all-time series.
• The Mids have reached the Patriot League semifinal round in each of the program's 13 league tournaments, while Navy will face Army in the semifinals for the fifth-straight Patriot League Tournament.
• At the Patriot League Tournament, Navy is now 8-5 when playing as the No. 2 and holds a 7-3 mark when playing the tournament in Annapolis.
• Sitting alone at third in program history with 85 career singles wins, Tannenbaum needs four more to catch Amanda Keller for second.
• With her two wins Friday, Tannenbaum passed Erin Snook for second in program history at 152 career combined wins.
• Ranking fourth in program history with 67 career doubles wins, Tannenbaum needs one more doubles victory to catch Claudia Mackenzie for third in the record books.
 
Up Next
Navy and Army are set to begin their Patriot League semifinal match at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium.